The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer carrier; a semiconductor wafer carrier automatic transfer system for transferring automatically the semiconductor wafer carrier, and a method for setting-up or maintaining the system.
A conventional semiconductor wafer carrier automatic transfer system was comprised of a plurality of devices. Accordingly, when the entire system is set up, every device had to be subjecting to adjustment or setting up.
In the conventional semiconductor wafer carrier automatic transfer system including a plurality of devices, when the system was set up, it was necessary to adjust or set up the devices separately. Accordingly, a much time was required for setting them up and there was a possibility that conditions for setting-up became ununiform depending on workers and the dates of working.
Further, after the system has once been in operation, it was necessary to stop the system in order to conduct a maintenance work for assuring a stable operation of the system, whereby productivity was decreased.
Further, in the case of conducting maintenance regularly, there is a possibility that a decrease in performance is not detected until a maintenance work is conducted. In this case, operations of the system are continued in a state of reduced performance. Namely, there was a problem that a necessary adjustment could not be made at a necessary time.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor wafer carrier automatic transfer system capable of shortening a set-up time of the system based on a diagnostic result of the system and devices and of assuring a stable operation of the system by utilizing the diagnostic result.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor wafer carrier which measures data on an item in a semiconductor wafer carrier automatic transfer system; calculates the date to obtain a result; and feeds back the result to the system so that the system performs stable operations.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor wafer carrier which comprises a measuring section for measuring a measurement item, a computing section having functions to calculate a result of measurement based on measured data and to compare the result with a threshold value of the measurement item, a display section for displaying a result of comparison and a result of measurement and a communicating section for conducting communication with an outer device.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the semiconductor wafer carrier according to the first aspect, wherein the measurement item is velocity.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the semiconductor wafer carrier according to the first aspect, wherein the measurement item is an impact value.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the semiconductor wafer carrier according to the first aspect, wherein the measurement item is time.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the semiconductor wafer carrier according to the first aspect, wherein the measurement item is a component of ambience.
In accordance with a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor wafer carrier automatic transfer system which comprises the semiconductor wafer carrier according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, and a semiconductor wafer carrier automatic transfer device which transfers the semiconductor wafer carrier and adjusts an operational parameter based on a result of measurement.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the semiconductor wafer carrier automatic transfer system according to the sixth aspect, wherein there are a plurality of semiconductor wafer carrier automatic transfer devices, and an operational parameter of a semiconductor wafer carrier is automatically adjusted while the semiconductor wafer carrier is automatically transferred.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the semiconductor wafer carrier automatic transfer system according to the seventh or eighth aspect, wherein a host computer is provided to control the transfer of all semiconductor wafer carriers; to transfer automatically the semiconductor wafer carriers, and to adjust automatically the operational parameter.
According to a ninth aspect, there is provided the semiconductor wafer carrier automatic transfer system according to the eighth aspect, wherein the display section of the semiconductor wafer carriers produces an alarm to notice the necessity of a maintenance work when a result of measurement conducted during the transfer does not satisfy the threshold value.
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for producing a semiconductor device characterized by using the semiconductor wafer carrier automatic transfer system described in any one of the sixth to ninth aspects.